Michelle Escobar

She came to K from Venice Beach, California, majored in Anthropology and Sociology, and earned a minor in Psychology.

She completed internships at Madras Christian School in Chennai, India; at Daily Behavioral Health in Cleveland, Ohio; at Comhar-Hope Latino in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She did her study away at The Philadelphia Urban Studies Center. There, in addition to her internship at Comhar, she volunteered for the breast cancer awareness center Morivivi, and she participated in the city seminar “Inside Out,” which connected 15 students with 15 inmates serving sentences in a medium-security detention center.

SIP: Studied the effect of classroom organization and teaching methods on educational outcomes for elementary-school-aged autistic children in the Kalamazoo Public Schools

Among her campus co-curricular activities, Michelle worked in K’s civic engagement program HYPE at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home. HYPE is the acronym for Helping Youth through Personal Empowerment, and Michelle’s work there reflects her longstanding interest in criminal justice.

About her Senior Individualized Project, Michelle said, “I studied the effect of classroom organization and teaching methods on educational outcomes for elementary-school-aged autistic children in the Kalamazoo Public Schools.”

Why’d she choose K? “I was ready for a great adventure and K is the best place for that.”

She loved the College’s open curriculum: “My first year I took a lot of pre-med courses, thinking I would go to medical school and become a pediatrician. I soon discovered my passion lay elsewhere. The open curriculum makes provision for such surprises and discoveries and still allows you to graduate on time.”

Next steps? Michelle had a job offer (Daily Behavioral Health) as a Registered Behavioral Technician before she graduated. She started work there with children with autism in early July. She’s also at work on a master’s degree in applied behavioral analyses (with an emphasis in autism) from Drexel University.